George Searle discovered NGC 5487 = HN 36 on 22 Mar 1868 with the 15-inch refractor at Harvard College Observatory (Annals of Harvard Observatory, Vol 13, #324). He mentioned that clouds hampered measurement of the position so Dreyer noted the position as very uncertain in the NGC. Nevertheless, the position is very close to CGCG 046-061 = PGC 50537.

400/500mm - 17.5" (6/8/02): faint, fairly small, elongated 5:3 WSW-ENE, 0.7'x0.4', low even surface brightness. Located 3' SSW of a mag 8.9 star that hinders viewing. A group of five mag 12-13 stars just north of the bright star forms a small asterism.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb